The Loadstar Podcast The Loadstar Media Ltd

On its 175th anniversary, Loadstar Podcast editor and producer Mike King asks Hapag Lloyd, the world’s fifth largest container line, how the carrier is managing the chaos of the here and now? What is being done to help shipper customers? Where will the windfalls of the last two years be spent? And what does the future hold for container shipping over the next 175 years?
Mike interviews newly appointed Executive Board Member of Hapag Lloyd, Donya Amer, and Dr. Ralf Belusa, Managing Director Digital Business & Transformation.
Credits: created, produced and hosted by Mike King
 
Episode in more detail:
175 years of challenges (2.22)
Unkinking container shipping now ( 6.21)
A reset for supply chains (9.40)
Any slots for an SME? (12.40)
Spending a treasure chest (14.45)
Scramble for Africa and investing in clean fuels (16.52)
Digitalisation and Covid-19 (22.35)
The next 175 years (25.10)

In this episode, Mike King examines what impact Covid lockdowns in China are having on exports from Asia. What do lower outbound volumes mean for the peak season, container shipping and the global economy? And, if lockdowns are eased in the coming weeks, are carriers and ports in Europe and North America ready to handle a Q3 surge better than they managed in 2021?
Credits: created, produced and hosted by Mike King
 
Guests
Lars Mikael Jensen, Head of Global Ocean Network at Maersk
Peter Sand, Chief Analyst at Xeneta
Jake Phipps, CEO of global manufacturer Phipps International
Josh Brazil, VP Supply Chain Insights, Project44
Rob Subbaraman, Head of Global Macro Research and Co-head of Global Markets Research, Nomura
 
Episode in more detail:
All eyes on China as lockdowns hit global supply chains (4.20)
View from a shipper (5.20)
Extended Transpac delivery times (.7.50)
Container spot and contract freight rates (10.21)
TAC Index update (13.50)
USWC versus USEC (16.33) – analysts and their numbers
European port delays (23.46)
Box shipping demand outlook (25.25)
The Economist – demand forecast and export concerns (30.40)
Could health policy trump trade in Xi’s China (35.43)
The container line. Exclusive extended interview with Lars Mikael Jensen, Head of Global Ocean Network at Maersk (37.26).

Episode Description
In Part 1 we hear about the latest M&A activity, what’s happening at ports and airports in China as Covid lockdowns bite, and what this means for rates and the peak season.
We also shed light on how rail services between Asia and Europe have been devastated by war in Ukraine and discuss why Lidl has set up a new shipping line.
In Part 2, we zoom in on air freight as we hear how the air supply chain can be improved, what war in Europe means for the sector and why TIACA is reinventing itself under the leadership of Director General Glyn Hughes.
 
Guests
Glyn Hughes, Director General, The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA)
Conor Feighan, Secretary General, European Rail Freight Association (ERFA)
Peyton Burnett, Managing Director, TAC INDEX
Gavin Van Marle, Managing Editor, The Loadstar
 
Episode notes in more detail
Part 1
An old friend from Drewry and the Felixstowe quiz (1.23)
Lidl enters shipping (2.42)
China lockdowns and air load factor declines (5.20)
TAC Index market analysis (and plenty on China) (7.30)
War and air cargo analysis (10.37)
Xeneta shipping rates (14.48)
What happens in peak season? (16.20)
Does Asia-Europe rail freight have a future? (17.14)
M&A – the latest deals (25.59)
 
Part 2 – What next air cargo and TIACA
An exclusive interview with Glyn Hughes, Director General, The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) (33.15)
 
Credits: created, produced and hosted by Mike King
 

In this Deep Dive Loadstar Podcast, Mike King explores how and why the acceleration in e-commerce trade due the Covid-19 pandemic is changing retail and the world of international freight. How are supply chains being transformed? What does this mean for planning and procurement? And, as integrators, trucking companies, forwarders, 3PLs and retailers seek out new supply chain profit centres, who will win this Battle Royale?
Guests:
Cathy Roberson, President of Logistics Trends & Insights
Tom Enright, VP, Retail Supply Chain, Gartner
Peter Sand, Chief Analyst at Xeneta
Lee Klaskow, Senior Analyst for Transportation and Logistics at Bloomberg Intelligence
Neel Jones Shah, Flexport Executive Vice President and Global Head of Airfreight.
Jason Miller, Associate Professor of Logistics, Department of Supply Chain Management, Michigan State University — Eli Broad College of Business
 
Created, Produced and Hosted by Mike King

The lesson of this Easter episode is do not put all your freight eggs in one basket.
Supply chain disruptions covered include the implications of more Covid lockdowns in China, port congestion and what war in Europe is doing to air charter markets.
We have the latest air and ocean freight rates, and we hear how SME forwarders are struggling to buy space from carriers. And, will Bollore and Gefco be the next acquisitions by Europe’s container lines?
Guests
Glenn Hogben, CEO of the Air Charter Association
Peter Sand, Chief Analyst, Xeneta
Chris Higgins, Commercial Director at AFS
Mike Wackett, Loadstar Sea Freight Correspondent
 
Episode in more detail
Gefco and Bollore up for grabs. Will lines snap them up? (1.00)
Lockdowns in China – implications (6.30)
Ripple effects; port congestion (9.20)
Carrier strategy in northern Europe (18.50)
War and the state of air charter markets (21.10)
How does air cargo get back to ‘normal’? (28.40)
SME forwarders: the forgotten liner customers (31.26)
The end of customer loyalty? (33.43)
Container charter markets (42.00)
P&O/DP World: the biggest PR fumble in history? (43.50)
 
Credits: Created, Produced and Hosted by Mike King

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is causing significant supply chain issues as carriers, ports and forwarders cancel services due to the fear of carrying or handling sanctioned cargo or incurring reputational damage.  The Black Sea, meanwhile, has been classified as a high-risk war zone by the Joint War Committee, a move that has hit imports and exports. Europe’s open skies have also been dramatically closed with all sorts of implications for airlines.
In Part 1 of this episode, we explore what War in Europe and sanctions regimes means on a practical level if you’re in the business of logistics and freight. We ask what next for air cargo and shipping operations and freight rates? And what does this invasion mean for rail services from Asia to Europe?
We also hear how logistics companies are helping the humanitarian effort and what we can all do to help. And we hear the traumatic story of one seafarer who was on the wrong end of Russian missiles in the Black Sea.
In Part 2, we look longer-term. Is this the end of the post-world War 2 rules-based order on which global trade and globalisation itself were built? And, if so, what does this mean for the supply chain landscape on which you all plan and compete?
 
Guests
Michael Every, Global Strategist at Rabobank
Ami Daniel, CEO of Windward
Adrian Batayen, seafarer on the Namura Queen, a vessel attacked by the Russian Navy off Ukraine in the Black Sea
Chris Weeks, VP, Humanitarian Affairs, Deutsche Post DHL
Alex Lennane, Publisher, The Loadstar
Nick Savvides, News Editor, The Loadstar
 
Episode in more detail
Part 1
Missiles and escape from the Black Sea (2.43)
Air space closures – impact on air cargo capacity and rates (8.32)
Rail to ocean? (13.20)
Sanctions explained (14.50)
Russia and reputational risk as carriers pull services (17.50)
How companies and governments are defining ‘Russian’ interests and scaling up due diligence (22.00)
The humanitarian efforts of the logistics industry and how to help (26.59 – 35.27)
Part 2 – The post-invasion geopolitical and logistics landscape
Exclusive interview with Michael Every, Global Strategist at Rabobank
The changing world order and history in fast-forward (36.00)
Sanctions and the weaponization of Western institutions (38.40)
The new trading environment and why it’s a zero-sum game (42.40)
What this new Cold War and the politicisation of supply chains mean for logistics professionals (45.21)
The end of Belt and Road? (48.50)
How to succeed in this new environment (51.32)
 
Credit: created, produced and hosted by Mike King